16 Weeks – pregnancy & diabetes

Can’t believe I’ve already got a round belly! It’s so weird. I keep pointing at it and saying “Look! I have a belly!” to Dennis. I think I’m expecting him to be all amazed or something but he’s such a dude. He looks at my belly and smiles and says, “Yeah, cool.” lol! Honestly though, don’t go and make food babies before making real babies, cuz then you’ll just get super huge like I’m going to get by the end. I’m so scared, you guys. I’m not even half way yet and I already look pregnant. Terrifying.

In the photo I’m wearing a “Momma Donna” outfit. She got me the shirt from Target (Liz Lange maternity), and we bought the cropped khaki’s at Gordman’s together for a steal. They are Motherhood brand but I think they were only like $15 or something. I was glad to find another cheaper place to find maternity wear–their selection is pretty good!

I really can’t wear regular pants any more, at least not in the sizes I own, and while some of my shirts still fit, I just look pot-bellied in them rather than pregnant. I love wearing maternity clothes because they accent my belly and make it look round, not just fat. LOL!

I added a pregnancy countdown ticker to the top of my sidebar and you can see our baby is now the size of a mango, my favorite fruit! So unreal how fast a baby grows. The miracle of conception to birth is just way too amazing to wrap my head around.

I don’t have much to report, but did get a question last week about my blood sugar numbers so I thought I’d address that. I’m doing fabulous with my diabetes, peeps! I’ve been really pleased with it for the most part because before I got pregnant I averaged about 150 and I’m now averaging 113 (there’s the 13 again!). I purposely kept my blood sugar a little high pre-pregnancy to avoid low blood sugar like the plague (hates it), but my focus changed to making sure I’m as normal as possible at all times (doctor set my goals at 90 pre-meals and 120 post-meals) for the sake of the baby’s health. I now will take 1 more unit than I think I need with meals just to be on the lower side. This means I do often get low, but I always have a “fix” (candy/juice/etc) with me to take care of it if necessary.

I went through some really, really bad low mornings that were so severe I was only semi-conscious upon waking, not even aware of what I was doing (thankfully I would always eat something and come out of it). I wouldn’t really “get” what was wrong with me at first and would try to check my email but couldn’t read anything, and I would be hitting walls and stumbling around, then I’d “come to” with a sack of chips in my lap and peanut butter smears on my nose and cheek or some such other nastiness. I still can’t eat chips after that morning I had like half a bag of baked potato chips while I was out of it – major aversion now! Not a bad thing. :)

Being so out of control of my own body and mind really sucked, not going to lie. It’s really scary because I might have lost consciousness if I hadn’t finally eaten something, and Dennis wouldn’t have found me until many hours later (he goes into work 3 hours before me). Dennis helped me on some mornings when he was aware I was low before he left, but I had to get a handle on the situation because it’s usually on me to be able to get out of bed and be a self-reliant individual since sleep is now precious and I sleep right through him leaving. I’ve finally worked out the dosage on my Lantus (long-lasting insulin) to where my morning lows are about 75, which is a manageable number that does not render me brain-dead. So that’s very good!

Being pregnant with diabetes does make it more challenging, but thankfully I’ve had a very easy pregnancy so far, and that helps balance things out. God only gives you as much as you can handle, right? :) Props to the stronger women who’ve had to deal with morning sickness AND diabetes at the same time. I think I would have been hospitalized. Much respect to those who’ve made it through with the dreaded morning sickness, whether facing diabetes or not!

Question for those who have been pregnant before: what did you crave and what gender was your baby? I guess I’m just trying to see if there’s a connection and what it might mean for me. Personally, I think I’m having a boy. Aren’t you supposed to like sweets if you’re having a girl? My love for sweets is about voided out, though I’m really enjoying fruit like I never have in my life. I used to love veggies and tolerate fruit, but now I hate veg and adore the fruit. I mostly enjoy salty & savory things now and my love for Taco Bell, though it went on hiatus for a month or so early on, is now back in full force and I have to get a fix a couple times a week (Beef Supreme Gorditas are my weakness!). So let me know what you think. I suppose I might just have to be patient and wait another two weeks for the sonogram-lol.

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About Veronica

I have a kitchen addiction and love to collect & share recipes. My passion is baking but I love to cook as well. The only thing I don't like to do in the kitchen is wash dishes, but my husband generally does them for me in exchange for his dinner.

You look beautiful! I had a girl and two boys and craved different things with all of them. Working in L&D, I can tell you, I don’t think there is a correlation to what you crave to what gender the baby is..although I did see something that the more different foods you eat when pregnant, the more apt the child is to eat those things…like different foods in different cultures. Kind of like natures way of getting the baby ready to survive in the culture it’s born into. I’d go with instinct. I was right on two of my pregnancies and totally wrong on the last. :)

Well I do think it’s a boy so that’s what I’m prepared to hear at the sonogram. And I think you’re right that there isn’t a correlation between cravings and the gender of your baby, but I have fun trying to guess with old wive’s tales and different things. :)

You look absolutely gorgeous and so happy !!
I had a boy ,he is grown now.
I always love my fruits and vegetables but when I was pregnant, it was more of peaches, peach pie of course, tomatoes, shrimp, steak and of course pasta of all kinds ( the Italian in me ) !

You look fantastic!
When I was pregnant with my son, I craved Pepperoni Hot Pockets. So gross, I can’t even smell them now, but he loves them and eats them all the time (He’s 19 so I don’t nag him about it too much).
With my daughter, I was going through peanut butter like crazy. I never really like peanut butter, but while preggo, I was going through a jar a week! The funny thing is, now she’s not crazy about peanut butter, but I eat it all the time :)

I KNEW I was having a boy. I had the weirdest cravings, too! Before pregnancy, I used to love dill pickles, but when I was pregnant I couldn’t eat them or I’d get sick. I fell in love with bread & butter pickles, though. My favorite combo was bread & butter pickles, Rolos, and cashews thrown together in a bowl, eaten with a spoon. To this day, the 9 year old will NOT eat dill pickles; he’s a bread & butter boy! :)

Yehaw!! What an awesome update. You look adorable!! Guess maybe you need to keep something to eat by your bedside huh? Probably not a bad idea…especially since hubby leaves the house before you. It’s been so long, I can’t tell you what I craved when I carried by girl or my boys…but it looks like you’re getting it all figured out. Keep on keeping on. SO impressed with your numbers! Big Hugs to you! (and that sweet belly too=). XO

You look wonderful – I am so glad that you are doing so well! When I had my son, I craved eggs – I didn’t even know I was pregnant yet and wanted nothing but eggs any way I could get them. I hated coffee nearly the entire 40 weeks and I am a coffee lover. And my son will eat eggs over nearly anything else!

You DO look great, V! I was showing at 16 weeks like you! I am always shocked when people are so small and then pop out at the end because that’s not what it was for me! I was constantly hungry and craved more sweets both times I was pregnant, but especially with my son, so I don’t know what to tell you in regard to that! My Granny seemed to just be able to look at us pregnant grandkids and rattle off the correct gender with a guess.

Awww, you look beautiful, I bet you feel wonderful. Still can’t guess your gender, but guess what, YAY for the boys!!!!

When I was pregnant, 21 years ago, the only craving I remember I had, a bad one, was hot dogs but from the hot dog stand, they were full of ketchup and sautee onions and no mustard (never like it) and I used to eat 3-4 at once, every single day for about a month-month and a half then I stop eating them for years and still don’t eat hot dog, then was the Lay’s Sour Cream and Onions chips. Probably that is reason #1 my cholesterol is SO HIGH.

By the way, this coming Friday I will be making the swirl butterscotch cake for my husband birthday! I’ll do my best to take pictures.

In the baby books it says not to eat deli meat or hot dogs or bacon (nitrites and apparently there’s some risk of food born illness with the deli meat-ew) but duuuuude. I’m so not following that rule. Deli meat is almost the only kind of meat I want. I love my sammiches! haha That is crazy about how much you craved the hot dogs and now you can’t eat them–lol! Were you pregnant with a boy or a girl when you were eating all that salty stuff? I hope your hubby loves the cake!

OH I forgot to add that, well …..that why I said YAY for the boys!!! because my baby boy, the one and only is now 21.
Didn’t read any book while pregnant, didn’t follow any instructions and my baby born healthy.

Yeah well I’ve read the books and still not following the instructions so hopefully mine will be healthy too-lol! If salty cravings means a boy, then I’m definitely having one. And by big announcement, do you mean the gender? You know I’ll be sharing it! I’m going to do a contest first though with a prize for one of those who guess right–I’ll draw from among those who guess right.

You look great! I don’t remember what I craved with my first one (fifteen years ago!), but with my last two I craved fruits like nothing else. That and Mexican food, often funny tacos from Taco Grande. They both are fruit freaks now! They choose it over anything. One is boy and one is a girl! That doesn’t really help either. I do believe what we crave and eat when pregnant has an effect on what the prefer when born, but not sure that is scientifically proven. Congrats again!

I have 3 girls and 1 boy and I craved strawberries, cinnamon, chicken, salad and Vietnamese noodle soup with every single one. My appetite for chocolate did not change, either. I also craved celery when my blood pressure started to climb a little bit…and it turns out that if you eat 3-4 stalks of celery a day it will lower your blod pressure by like 10-15 points. Little tip if you your BP starts to creep up at the end like mine did. *wink wink*.

I craved watermelon and root beer popsicles! Not great since it was January when this started and I lived in Massachusetts at the time. There was not a lot of either around at that time of year. I did find cut up chunks of watermelon in one of the grocery stores, and would eat tons of it at a time. The root beer popsicles were harder to come by, but I did find some before my daughter was born on Labor Day. (Yes, she was born on LABOR Day. My husband says this is due to my love of puns.) Somehow a can of root beer, or even freezing root beer with a stick in it didn’t satisfy my craving. I needed a root beer popsicle! :)

Funny, my daughter is now 13, and she still hates watermelon… Could there be a connection?

I went through a watermelon phase too, but I’m back to not liking it very much again. Too funny she was born on labor day-lol! It’s funny she doesn’t like what you craved while pregnant b/c Biz (below) was saying how her daughter loves the food Biz ate while pregnant with her. Probably just depends on the person!

I have three boys and one girl and craved different things with them all. Although my daughter did tend to be sweeter foods like fruit and ice cream. My boys were Chinese food (1st), guacamole bacon burgers and fries from Carl’s Jr (2nd) and spice foods and buffalo anything (3rd). To this day my youngest son is a little spitfire! Think it has anything to do with all those nuggets I ate dipped in buffalo sauce? And don’t worry about the weight thing. I gained 50 pounds with all my pregnancies whether I ate well or not. It’s just the way my body works. As long as you and the baby are healthy, your body will let you know what you need and once your baby is here safe you can work on losing the weight! It’s a lifelong journey anyways, right? Good luck to you!

Both my Mom and sister both gained 50 lbs with their pregnancies too so I’m probably doooooooomed. LOL! I’m eating good though and not overdoing it, just eating when I’m hungry and trying to make healthy choices, so I kind of feel free of my emotional eating problems for the first time in years! It’s nice.

That’s about the only thing I hate about having a tight control on your diabetes, is that you do run into lows – scary stuff! I too have “woken up” with pretzels sticking out of my mouth – gah!

When I was pregnant with Hannah I hated red meat and loved all things Chinese food. Now, my 21 year old daughter, hates red meat and loves Chinese food! She says she doesn’t care for red meat because I didn’t introduce her to it in womb!

Thanks for answering my question on your diabetes, I’ve never known anyone personally who’s been pregnant while insulin dependent – keep up the great work!

You look beautiful!!!! Just try and eat healty, with your baby in mind.Take care of your mental smile,laugh,have happy thought,drink your water,and dont forget to walk daily(its good for you) Its a GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your outfit is cute! They have much nicer maternity clothes than when I was pregnant. I hated wearing those clothes, thankfully it was only for a couple months. I couldn’t get rid of them fast enough…lol! ;) I craved cherry cheesecake with Derek and I haven’t had it since. I’ve made it but, I don’t want any! Derek is more like me, he likes salty snacks but, he likes some sweets too. I am back to my old self and no longer like much sweet stuff. Give me a dorito taco…yes, I had one today :)

It’s crazy how cute they make the clothes now. I was telling Den that I love my maternity wardrobe way better than my regular one and will be mega sad when I don’t need it any more (but mega glad to have a baby, I’m sure). :) So you craved something sweet, unusual for you, and you had a boy! So maybe me losing my sweet tooth could mean I’m having a girl. I really don’t think so but it doesn’t hurt to hope-lol. I knew the old you would come back – I shall mourn the passing of the Suzie who loved sweets. I’m so glad I got some brownies to you while you still liked them! :D

I’m so sorry old Suzie is gone…lol! I’ve once again bought stock in doritos and chips…ha! And hey, I loved the brownies and goodies. I just can’t seem to do that for too long. After the hospital was the longest, ever, that I liked sweet stuff. Odd :/

With my daughter I could not go in a grocery store. I would smell blood from the meat department and I would have to run to the ladies room to be sick. This went on during this pregnancy with her. I craved Strawberry Ice Cream and I would eat roasted turkey with sprouts daily. With my son I craved bloody meat (I’m not and have never been a meat eater) steak RARE! The thought makes me sick. My Husband was getting sick of eating beef. So go figure!

You are the cutest preggo ever!!! And you look so happy! Aww you make me wanna go hop in bed with PJ and start making some babies right now lol! TMI?? Probably lol. Sorry about that :) So glad to hear that the pregnancy isn’t causing much morning sickness yet. And that you’re managing the diabetes. Aww you think you’re having a boy? Any names standing out or do you wanna keep that a secret? Love these posts… keep em coming!

I haven’t had a bit of morning sickness at all! Neither did my mom with any of her pregnancies so maybe it’s a hereditary thing. We really haven’t been discussing names but do have a favorite boy name picked out. I think we are waiting to find out the sex to really get down to business on the name. I’m not sure if we’re going to share beforehand or not…

What a beautiful Mama in the making… Veronica, you look radiant! I’m not the one to ask about gender hints — I was wrong about both my kids, ha! Went thru my first pregnancy thinking I was having a girl after the sonogram technician commented “the baby this” and “the baby that” as they pointed out features, when all of a sudden they said “her.” (Bear in mind, this was back when sonograms were fuzzy black & white photos and all you could make out was the head, lol.) I don’t think the technician even realized they said it. Surprise, surprise, out came my SON when it was time.

My second pregnancy I was convinced I was having a boy because everything “felt” the same as my first pregnancy. We even picked out the name James and didn’t have a girl’s name in mind. I just “knew.” Nine months later, my daughter was born! The only thing I can guarantee for certain is that you’re having a BABY. :)

So you decided to be surprised with both? I don’t have the patience! I like surprises but I really want to have everything ready for the baby. But really the only sure way of determining gender is giving birth. I’ve heard many friends say they were told they were having a girl, only to have a boy! Apparently the mistake doesn’t run the other way though so I might find more comfort in hearing “it’s a boy” b/c at least there will be more certainity that it truly is a boy and we won’t have to repaint and redecorate and exchange all the clothes. LOL!